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Pensions and retiring

Retirement

There is no set age in the UK at which you must retire.The age at which you can leave employment and access your pension is from age 55 - 75.Flexible retirement (phased early retirement) may be an option to consider for employees from age 55+. This is linked to a reduction in hours and/or grade.

Apply for retirement

Any requests should be discussed with your line manager prior to application.If you are not in the pension scheme - discuss your intentions with your line manager and then resign from your post giving the appropriate notice period.

Premature retirement

You can find out more information around the process and procedure on the Teachers Pension's 'Premature retirement' page.

Pensions

There are 2 pension schemes available to employees, and both schemes are contributory.

You contribute a set percentage of your gross salary to the pension scheme.

This deduction is automatically taken from your gross salary every month.

Your payslip shows the deducted amount.

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) - for school's support staff

You will automatically join the scheme if:

you have an employment contract of longer than 3 months

are under the age of 75.

You can apply to ‘transfer in’ a pension from a previous employer within 12 months of joining.

You can opt out of the scheme at any time by completing an ‘opt out’ form. If you opt out, you can opt back into the scheme at any time provided you have a contract of employment for at least 3 months and are under age 75.

Auto-enrolment

Schools purchasing Buckinghamshire County Council Payroll Services (excluding Academy Schools who will have their own staging date)

Buckinghamshire Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools (for whom BCC remain the employer) even though the schools are purchasing payroll services from other payroll providers

Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools are excluded as they will have their own staging date

A statutory requirement to auto-enrol all staff into a pension scheme was introduced in 2012. The Buckinghamshire County Council staging (implementation) date was the 1st June 2013. The background to this change is that the Government are keen for workers to plan and consider how they are likely to pay for retirement and that the state is unlikely to be able to pick up the bill for a comfortable retirement.

Pension access

You may be able to leave work and request early payment of your pension from age 55 onwards, although paying the benefits early may result in a reduction in your pension.